5 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Professional Organizer
Here are five key questions to ask before you invite an organizer into your home.
Are you in the market to hire a professional organizer? If so, you’re in for an experience you’re not likely to forget, for better or worse. Here are five key questions to ask before you invite an organizer into your home.
1. Are you insured?
It’s critical that you ask, and verify that your home organizer has a business insurance policy in place prior to signing an agreement or beginning work. Due to the nature of our work, professional organizers are handling or touching almost every item in your home.
This includes delicate and expensive items such as home decor, glass, china, garments, jewelry and keepsakes. Including custom made furniture, artwork and even the home itself.
Aside from all the physical items in your home, accidents can, and do happen. When there’s no insurance policy in place, this can leave you wide open for liability with professional organizers in the home who are injured.
If you’ve ever been involved in a lawsuit, you know the type of anxiety and frustration that occurs no matter what direction the verdict may be. An expensive and drawn out lawsuit can be avoided by making sure that your home organizer is covered with the proper insurance for the work they’ll be providing in your home or space. This provides peace of mind and protection for everyone involved.
2. Do you have a contract?
This is a big one. A contract or written agreement is designed to create protection for you, the homeowner, and the organizing company or individual that will be organizing your home.
This may not seem like a big deal in the beginning, but unfortunately misunderstandings and disagreements are all too common. There may be miscommunication in regards to how many hours are included in the price, and what constitutes “work” from the home organizer. Will you be billed for hours worked inside the home only, or also for hours worked outside of the home, such as for personal shopping, donation drop offs, project management and so forth?
In addition, what constitutes a job being done satisfactorily? Professional organizing work is what you’d call “subjective”. Meaning that the work performed can either be considered satisfactory or unsatisfactory depending on the viewpoint of the people involved.
What one person views as excellent work can be considered a total failure by another. When situations like this occur, having a written agreement in place on how these situations are handled is extremely important.
It’s no secret that professional organizing services are considered a luxury, which is reflected in the price tag. When money is being spent it’s important to make sure that both parties understand what’s included, and it is agreed upon in writing so there are no surprises or misunderstandings.
Other terms of the working relationship such as how payments are handled and who is responsible for what during the organizing process. Some organizers require their clients to take an active role in the organization process. This includes doing all the hands-on work, such as sorting everything, deciding what to keep and donate during the purging and decluttering stage, as well as organizing and everything in between.
Whereas with other home organizers, such as Alana’s Organizing, will require a less active role from their clients. This can be as simple as just needing your verbal input during the decluttering process, so we know what you’ll be keeping and what to toss while we handle the rest. It’s always good to have such details in writing beforehand.
3. Do you work alone or with a team?
Depending on the size of your organizing project and how quickly you need the work to be completed, it’s smart to know if your organizer will be working alone, in a team or if the owner of the company actually works on site with the team.
The majority of professional organizers typically work alone, or with an assistant. If you have a small closet that needs work, this may not be an issue because a job this small can usually be done within a day.
This is also a great option if you prefer to work 1:1 with your organizer, while having as few people in your home as possible when the work is being done. Home organizing is a very intimate and highly personal process, so having a team is not always desired depending on the comfort level of you and your household.
If you have a larger home or need several rooms organized within a fixed or short time frame, then it’s important to know if the professional organizing company will have enough team members to take care of your project and provide quality work in the time allotted.
Often our team is called on to work in large homes, some as much as 15k square feet or more. When you have a project this size, it can take several days or weeks depending on the size of the organizing team and their skill level. I’ve spoken to quite a number of organizers who had to pass up jobs because they did not have the manpower to complete the work the client needed in the time allowed.
Especially at times when you’re moving and you have deadlines with escrow and lenders, you may need to be in and out of a home within a few days or a week at best. It’s important to make sure your professional organizing team is equipped to handle the scope of the work in a quality manner.
4. What do you specialize in?
In the world of organizers, we come in many different varieties, specializing in different areas of expertise. This is an important aspect to consider when you’re looking for help with your unique organizing challenges. Here are just a few examples of organizing niches: KonMari Method, ADHD, and Hoarding, to name a few.
According to the KonMari Method, it “ encourages tidying by category – not by location – beginning with clothes, then moving on to books, papers, komono (miscellaneous items), and, finally, sentimental items. Keep only those things that speak to the heart, and discard items that no longer spark joy.”
ADHD organizing focuses on using specific methods and techniques designed to help those who are diagnosed with the disorder or who may exhibit such symptoms. A few recommendations include:
Setting time limits for decision making
Avoiding over committing
Fighting hyper focus
Using sticky notes to stay on track
Getting a “clutter companion”
With hoarding, psychotherapy, also called talk therapy, is the primary treatment. Cognitive behavioral therapy is the most common form of psychotherapy used to treat hoarding disorder.
So depending on your unique situation, one organizer may be better suited to fit your needs than another. It’s good to consider the unique needs of you and your household, your lifestyle and personal goals.
Alana’s Organizing specializes in working with time-strapped professionals and families who are looking for a hands-free, luxury experience so they can live their best lives. By having a highly skilled team, we’re able to work on large scale projects with unique needs and circumstances. We make happen in days, what may have taken weeks or months for you to accomplish on your own.
5. Do you have references and a portfolio?
Last but not least it’s good to know if your prospective organizer has a portfolio or samples of their work that you can preview to see if they’d be a good fit for your needs.
Some organizers specialize in budget friendly solutions, while others provide a more high end service to their clients. Viewing a portfolio will help you to visualize their previous work and how it fits into your current lifestyle.
Other factors such as, do they have areas of the home they do a lot of work in, such as closet organizing, playroom organizing, garages or kitchens? If you have a particular room in your home that you need a highly skilled organizer to put together, you may want to see how many rooms they have successfully organized that are similar to what you’re looking for.
So the next time that you’re in the market for a professional home organizer, make sure to ask the five questions mentioned in this article. You’ll be happy you did, once you ensure that all parties are protected with insurance and a contract, as well as the expectations required from those involved and the type of outcome you can expect, based upon their skillset and niche.
